To Wolfowitz, Iraq Was Just a Chance for the U.S. to Demonstrate Its Power

Andrew Bacevich’s Letter to Paul Wolfowitz at Harper’s has been generating significant attention. Bachevich reminds us that Wolfowitz was a protégé of nuclear strategist Albert Wohlstetter, who believed states should act to prevent war, not just react to aggression. At one point, Bacevich writes

So even conceding a hat tip to Albert Wohlstetter, the Bush Doctrine was largely your handiwork. The urgency of invading Iraq stemmed from the need to validate that doctrine before the window of opportunity closed. What made it necessary to act immediately was not Saddam’s purported WMD program. It was not his nearly nonexistent links to Al Qaeda. It was certainly not the way he abused his own people. No, what drove events was the imperative of claiming for the United States prerogatives allowed no other nation.

… to unshackle American power. Saddam Hussein’s demise would serve as an object lesson for all: Here’s what we can do. Here’s what we will do.

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We sniff out issues hiding in the foreign-policy forest and haul them back to the laboratory for inspection. We examine the anterior, posterior, and underside of an issue, as well as its shadows.

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